Dateline Pacific for 26 April 2019

Samoans are being warned about a global multi-billion dollar cryptocurrency which has compromised the country's financial system; an academic expert on politics in Melanesia says at the nub of the political instability in Solomon Islands is that no real change is being offerred by either side; Fiji's Military has been facing questions from a parliamentary committee over torture as the country looks to comply with the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; major strains are again surfacing within Papua New Guinea's oldest political party, the Pangu Pati. The party's leader, Finance Minister Sam Basil, was recently expelled from the party by its executive. Mr Basil has begun registering a new party, but the Pangu executive is urging other Pangu MPs not to leave with him; more students in Fiji now able to learn French and the director of Allliance Francaise in Fiji Thomas Feldstein says Fijians learning to speak a foreign language is good for the tourism industry.